First phase of polling begins in Bihar; over 3.75 crore voters to decide fate of 1,314 candidates

The political fortunes of several key candidates, including RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Choudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, will be decided on Thursday as Bihar goes to the first phase of polling.

Voting began in 121 constituencies across 18 districts, including Patna, Vaishali, Nalanda, Bhojpur, Munger, Saran, Siwan, Gopalganj, and Muzaffarpur.

Over 3.75 crore voters are eligible to decide the fate of 1,314 candidates, including 122 women contenders.

The polling, which began at 7 am, will continue till 6 pm. However, in some sensitive areas such as Simri Bakhtiyarpur, Mahishi, Tarapur, Munger, Jamalpur, and parts of Suryagarha, polling will conclude at 5 pm.

The state and central armed paramilitary forces have been deployed in all sensitive areas to prevent any untoward incidents. The Election Commission has deployed 121 general observers, 18 police observers, and 33 expenditure observers to ensure a free and fair polling.

In the first phase, the JD(U) is contesting 57 seats and the BJP 48. Among other NDA allies, the LJP (Ram Vilas) and the Rashtriya Lok Morcha are contesting 14 and two seats, respectively.

In the INDIA bloc, the RJD is contesting 73 seats, while the Congress and the CPI(ML) are in the fray in 24 and 14 seats, respectively.

Tejashwi Yadav, the chief minister candidate of the opposition alliance, is seeking a third consecutive victory from Raghopur constituency, where he is taking on Satish Kumar of the BJP and Chanchal Kumar of the JSP.

A high-profile contest is underway in Mahua where Tej Pratap Yadav, the elder brother of Tejashwi Yadav, is contesting as an independent after his expulsion from the RJD. Tej Pratap will face RJD’s Mukesh Kumar Raushan, who is also the sitting MLA, and LJP’s Sanjay Singh.

In Tarapur, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary will face RJD’s Arun Kumar. This is the first time Smrat is contesting from this seat.